Pellet dispensing apparatus

ABSTRACT

A pellet or shot dispensing invention comprising a dispensing apparatus having a tube with a cap fixed thereto and inclined at an upward angle. The cap and tube have a bore providing communication between the bottle and tube. A plurality of pellets or shot are in the bottle and flow under gravity from the bottle into the bore and into the tube one at a time. A spring rod is mounted into the passageway below the bore from the bottle to retain a pellet in the tube. A plunger is slidably mounted in the tube above the bore and slidable downward against the pellet in the tube to push the pellet downward against the spring rod forcing the spring rod outward so that the pellet may slip past the rod and out the tube. Spring means are provided to return the plunger to its upward position so that the operation may be replated to dispense pellets or shot one at a time out of the tube from the bottle.

United States Patent 1 Hafner 1 Mar. 12, 1974 PELLET DISPENSING APPARATUS [22] Filed: Nov. 27, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 309,693

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 132,642, April 9, 1971,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,834,358 5/1958 Lorence 221/267 2,630,245 3/1953 Maier 2,759,390 8/1956 Edwards 221/276 Primary Examiner-Stanley l-I. Tollberg Attorney, Agent, or FirmRobert E. Kleve [57] ABSTRACT A pellet or shot dispensing invention comprising a dispensing apparatus having a tube with a cap fixed thereto and inclined at an upward angle. The cap and tube have a bore providing communication between the bottle and tube. A plurality of pellets or shot are in the bottle and flow under gravity from the bottle into the bore and into the tube one at a time. A spring rod is mounted into the passageway below the bore from the bottle to retain a pellet in the tube. A plunger is slidably mounted in the tube above the bore and slidable downward against the pellet in the tube to push the pellet downward against the spring rod forcing the spring rod outward so that the pellet may slip past the rod and out the tube. Spring means are provided to return the plunger to its upwardposition so that the operation may be replated to dispense pellets or shot one at a time out of the tube from the bottle.

2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEBIAR 12 m4 F I G .l.

RmmmwEFQd t$uvuvv a E n INVENTOR WILLIAM J HAFNER BY QMaW ATTORNEY This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 132,642, filed Apr. 9, 1971, now abandoned.

This invention relates to dispensing apparatus, more particularly the invention relates to dispensing shot-like or pellet dispensing apparatus.

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel pellet dispensing apparatus for easily and rapidly dispensing apparatus for easily and rapidly dispensing single shot-like pellets from a bottle one at a time under a gravity flow. I

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel dispensing apparatus which will accurately and easily dispense a quantity of pellets one at a time.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel dispensing apparatus which will dispense pellets from a bottle one at a time.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the sugar pellet dispensing invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the sugar pellet dispensing invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 illustrating the interior construction of the pellet or shot-like dispensing invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

Briefly stated, the invention comprises a pellet or shot-like dispensing apparatus for dispensing pellets one at a time out of a tube from a bottle, having an elongated tube with a cap portion fixed thereto at an upward angle, said cap being threaded onto the mouth of a bottle, said tube has a hollow interior with said cap and tube having a bore providing communication between the bottle and the tube and plunger mounted in the tube, a spring rod mounted to the tube having a laterally bent and projecting into an opening in the tube below the opening in the cap to the bottle, whereby the bent end of the rod will hold only one pellet in the tube at a time; pellets in the bottle which will roll from the bottle down the bore in the cap and tube into the tube one at a time, a plunger slidably mounted in the tube acting more downward and push the pellet in the tube downward with the pellet forcing the bent end of the spring rod out to enable the pellet to slide or slip past and drop out the bottom of the tube, spring means returning the plunger to its upward position after pushing the pellet past the bent end of the spring rod so that another pellet may roll into the tube where it may be forced downward past the bent end of the spring rod and out the tube by the plunger.

Referring more particularly to the drawing in FIGS. 1 and 3 the sugar pellet dispensing invention 20 is shown threaded onto the threaded mouth reduced collor parts 21 of a conventional bottle 22.

The dispensing invention 20 has an annular cap 29 to thread over the mouth 21 of the bottle. The dispensing invention has a tubular member 23 fixed to the cap 29 and the tubular member 23 has a cylindrical inner bore 24. A plunger 25 has a cylindrical outer surface 725 and the plunger 25 is slidably mounted in the cylindrical bore 24. The upper end of the tube 24 has an enlarged tubular portion 26 with an enlarged cylindrical inner bore 27. A coil spring 28 is slidably mounted coaxially over the plunger 25 within the enlarged bore 27.

The upper end 30 of the cylindrical plunger projects upward through a bore 31 the upper end of the tube 23. An annular ring 32 is fixed to the pluger 25 and projects outward therefrom within the enlarged bore 27 of the enlarged tubular portion 26, above the coil spring 28. The lower end 33 of the plunger has a spherical recess 34, so that the outer lower edges 33' project and taper downward to form a knife like edge.

A spring rod 35 has a laterally bent lower end 36 which projects freely through a hole or bore 37 in the tube 23 and extends centrally across the inner bore 24 of the tube. The upper end 38 of the spring rod 35 is wrapped around the tubular member 24 so as to lock the upper end of the spring rod to the tubular member.

The cap 29 has a cylindrical bore 39 which communicates at its upper end 39' with the opening 40 in the mouth 21 of the bottle and it communicates at its lower end 39' with a bore 41 in the tube 24.

The plurality of spherical sugar pellets 42 are located inside the bottle. The pellets 42 are of the type used for decorating cookies and pastry and are made of sugar with a silver coating and are edible.

The pellets 42 have an outside diameter which is smaller than the bore 39 on the cap 29 and smaller than bore 41 into the tube and also smaller than the cylindrical inner bore 24 extending along the tube, so as to move or roll freely through the bores 39, 41, and 24, under the force of gravity, so that pellets located in the bottle will roll one after another down the bore 39 through the bore 41 into the bore 24 where they will come to rest upon the laterally bent leg 36 of the spring rod. The bores 39, 41, and 24 are only large enough so that the pellets 42 may move freely only one after another through the bores 39, 41, and 24, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, and so that only one of the sugar pellet 42 will rest in the bore 24 tube 23, at a time as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

OPERATION The shot or pellet dispensing invention 20 operates as follows: The dispensing invention 20 will be mounted onto a bottle 22 having a plurality of shot-like sugar coated pellets 42 by placing the bottle 22 upright with the mouth 40 extending upward and then rotating the dispensing invention to thread the threaded cap 29 onto the threaded mouth or collar portion 21 of the bottle 22. whereupon the dispensing invention 20 with the bottle 22 attached thereto will be tipped to its position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 and held over the cookie to be decorated and the operator will press the top of the plunger downward moving the plunger 24 downward from its position shown in solid lines to its position shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3 and designated by numeral 42. The recess portion 34 of the lower end 33 of the plunger as it moves downward will socket over the pellet 42' located in the tube 24 and the tapered annular knife like outer edge 33' will project between the pellet 42' and the next upward adjacent pellet 42" to separate them and prevent the pellet 42" from rolling into the tube 24.

The plunger will continue moving downward pushing the pellet 42' downward from its position shown in FIG. 3, and with the bottom of the pellet 42 engaging the lateral bent end of the spring rod and push the rod and bent end clockwise outward from its position shown in solid lines to its position shown in dashed lines and designated by numeral 42, which enables the pellet to slip past the bent end 36 of the rod and drop out the bottom 44 of the tube.

The operator will then release the plunger and the coil spring 28 will push the plunger back upward to its position shown in solid lines in FIGS. 1 and 3 as the lower end of the plunger moves upward past the lateral bent end 36 of thespring rod, the spring rod will be releaved and spring back to its position shown in solid lines in FIG. 1 and 3, and after the plunger has slid upward past the bore 41 to its position shown in solid lines in FIG. 3, the next pellet 42 may roll into the tube 24 to the position formerly where pellet 42 was located and the next pellet 42" will take the same position of pellet 42", before the plunger action. This only one pellet is located in the tube at a time for each plunger action. This process will repeat itself with pellets moving from the bottle down the bore 39 into the tube one at a time under gravity flow.

Thus it will be seen that a novel shot or pellet dispensing device has been provided which will dispense cylindrical pellets easily and rapidly from a bottle, under a gravity flow, accurately and one at a time by simply pressing the plunger at the top of the dispenser.

It will be obvious that various changes and departures may be made without departing from the spirit and thereof and accordingly it is not intended that the invention be limited to that specifically described in the specification or as illustrated in the drawings but only as set forth in the appended claims wherein:

What is claimed is:

l. A pellet dispensing apparatus comprising an elon-v gated tube adapted to extend downward, a cap mounted to said tube above the lower end of the tube, said cap and tube having an opening providing communication between the interior of the tube and the interior of the cap, a bottle having a mouth, said cap and said bottle having cooperating attachment means to attach the cap to the mouth of the bottle with the mouth of the bottle extending downward and with the bottle extending at an upward angle in relation to the tube, a plurality of pellets in said bottle flowable under the force of gravity and of a size to travel out of the mouth of the bottle through the opening in the cap and tube into the tube, a spring biased rod mounted to said tube with a flange on the rod projecting through a slot into said tube and spaced beneath said opening so that only one pellet is received into the tube at a time and acting to hold said received pellet in said tube from gravitating out of the lower end of said tube, a spring biased plunger slidably mounted in said tube above said opening and acting when slid downward to provide an engagement against said rod to push said flange out of said tube so that said received pellet may travel downward past said flange and gravitate out the bottom of the tube, said plunger when sliding downward acts to close said opening between said tube and cap to prevent another pellet from gravitating into the tube until after the received pellet has been pushed past the flange and the flange is free to move back into the tube under the spring biasing of the rod to hold the next received pellet.

2. A pellet dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said plunger provides said engagement against said rod when said sliding downward, by said plunger engaging said received pellet and said received pellet in turn engaging said flange of said rod to push said flange out of said tube. 

1. A pellet dispensing apparatus comprising an elongated tube adapted to extend downward, a cap mounted to said tube above the lower end of the tube, said cap and tube having an opening providing communication between the interior of the tube and the interior of the cap, a bottle having a mouth, said cap and said bottle having cooperating attachment means to attach the cap to the mouth of the bottle with the mouth of the bottle extending downward and with the bottle extending at an upward angle in relation to the tube, a plurality of pellets in said bottle flowable under the force of gravity and of a size to travel out of the mouth of the bottle through the opening in the cap and tube into the tube, a spring biased rod mounted to said tube with a flange on the rod projecting through a slot into said tube and spaced beneath said opening so that only one pellet is received into the tube at a time and acting to hold said received pellet in said tube from gravitating out of the lower end of said tube, a spring biased plunger slidably mounted in said tube above said opening and acting when slid downward to provide an engagement against said rod to push said flange out of said tube so that said received pellet may travel downward past said flange and gravitate out the bottom of the tube, said plunger when sliding downward acts to close said opening between said tube and cap to prevent another pellet from gravitating into the tube until after the received pellet has been pushed past the flange and the flange is free to move back into the tube under the spring biasing of the rod to hold the next received pellet.
 2. A pellet dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said plunger provides said engagement against said rod when said sliding downward, by said plunger engaging said received pellet and said received pellet in turn engaging said flange of said rod to push said flange out of said tube. 